The whole thing is taking place along a walkable stretch of Sunset Boulevard, in Silverlakeish. At 7 p.m., the authors will read upstairs at the restaurant Malo. Listeners are welcome to begin drinking, and, I would recommend, snacking (the green salsa is quite tasty).

After that, there are three other bars on the list: the Tiki-Ti, pictured, which is a five-minute walk up the street; the Good Luck Bar, another five minutes away continuing in the same direction; and the 4100 Bar, just around the corner from Malo in the opposite direction. Oh, at the most, it's a 15-minute walk between the 4100 Bar and the Good Luck, but that's a long way for Angelenos. Maybe we should find somebody to shuttle.

Patrick Brown, who has earned a reputation for writing smart commentary doing the social networking for Pasadena's Vroman's Bookstore, will also be in attendance. He's leaving bookselling to become the community manager for Goodreads, and while he officially starts next week, he promises to come along for some literary bar crawling.

No need to sign up -- just show up and join in. Expect toasts to writers who were also champion drinkers, such as Ernest Hemingway, Dorothy Parker and L.A.'s own down-and-dirty Charles Bukowski, who never met a free boilermaker he didn't like.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

[Updated 4:22 p.m., 2/17/10: an earlier version of this post said that Gary Phillips would be among the authors reading at the event. He cannot attend; Martin Pousson will appear instead.]